The Barbarians Are Coming

Rating:
Summary: Not as nourishing as I had hoped
Review: First, a disclaimer: David Wong Louie's name popped off the shelf for me because, about 14 years ago, a literary journal I was editing published one of his early stories. I hadn't really tracked his career since then, but was interested to see what his new work was like, remembering that his prose had been, in my experience, technically polished and brilliantly funny, though rather emotionally flat.

As I expected, Louie's keen eye for satire and hilarity remains; and his prose is as high-gloss as ever. But the big, and very pleasant, surprise is the degree to which he has woven beautiful prose, pointed satire and weighty themes (the immigrant experience, how immigrant identities conflict and merge with American identities, etc.) into a deeply moving story. The Barbarians are Coming has the power to make you weep, even while you're laughing. It would be difficult to read it, I think, without profoundly re-evaluating your own behavior toward parents, lovers, children, your own Americanness, and your relationship with whatever ethnic or national identities you hold beyond that Americanness.

.... But these are cavils. This is a powerful and beautifully written novel that has the rare power, like a book of Roth's, to combine wit, heart and meaning.

Rating:
Summary: Barbarians, Barbarians every where
Review: From the start of the book, one knows that the characters are headed for disaster. Their lives are a wreck and there is little they will do to correct their situations. Barbarians, barbarians everywhere. Many act cruelly toward their "loved" ones. This is one very dysfunctional family. David Wong Louie accurately gives the readers an understanding of the depth and pervasiveness of the behavioral disability.

Louie's repetitive use of the car was creatively woven with the behaviors of the main characters. The main characters went about their lives careening out of control. Regardless of how many miles they traveled or years they lived they would remain the same tragic characters. The characters carry a lot of emotional package with them throughout their lives. As a reader I was an observer. I got the sense that the main characters approached their lives as observers as well. They acted as if they weren't in the driver seat of their destinies. Instead they traveled as if they were on a tour bus, with very few reflective stopping points, inactively going where ever it would take them.

It was an accurate painful portrayal of many people who passively sit by and let others' actions lead them. They opt for the coward's choice, freeing themselves from responsibilities. The book will carry the reader through the full gamut of emotions. It is brilliantly humorous at times and bitterly pathetic at others.

The San Francisco Chronicle Online Book Club chose David Wong Louie's "The Barbarian's are Coming" for it's 3/19 - 4/15 selection. Chime in on the online bulletin board.

Rating:
Summary: New chapter in Asian American literature
Review: I agree with a previous review that this book is quite different from the more popular genre of Asian American litreature. The traditional Asian American literature usually ends at the point where the protagonist gives up on her cultural roots, and that is only the halfway point in this book. David Wong Louie tells the story of what happens after that point, and provides a touching portrayal of what many first/second generation Asian Americans must go through in the multiple stages - and generations - of their lives. I would recommend this book over many other standard textbooks of Asian American literature classes that reflect Asian American lives as accurately as blaxpoitation films reflect African American lives.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Read
Review: I cannot pinpoint exactly why I liked this book, I just did. I can say that the writing was superb, and I enjoyed following the characters. There was wit, there was sadness, and at times a detached, cold lack of emotion. But the detachment was almost like a character to me.

One caveat. I found the references to the anatomy of the males in the book awkward in placement and content. They were extremely brief and only come up two, maybe three times. But, I was struck by how weird it felt for the author to be referencing it when and how he did each time. Maybe my gender prevents me from getting it.

That aside, I think this is a solid piece of literature worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: New chapter in Asian American literature
Review: I really wanted to like this book. I read it with great anticipation. I tend to like Asian-American authors and fine the retelling of their struggles bridging their family and cultural life with their American experience enlightening and entertaining. And, truth be told, this story probably had a lot to offer on that score.

However, in the end I found the book extremely disappointing, primarily because the main character is such a spineless wimp. I spent the entire book wanting to yell "Grow up you jerk!" It's been a long time since I have experienced so useless and loathsome a character. Had he been even halfway decent I probably could have gotten into the story. As it was I was so filled with pity for all these poor characters stuck forever in the same pages as this greedy, immature twerp that I lost track of the story entirely.

What's really frustrating is David Wong Louie can write. And the most impressive aspect of his writing is the depth and intensity of his characters. It's too bad he wasted so much effort on such a fine cast only to undermine it all in the end with such a lousy main character.

I can only hope his next effort is better constructed so that the story is allowed to emerge and be enjoyed.

Rating:
Summary: Like a Big Mac: lots of calories-no nourishment.
Review: I really wanted to like this book. I read it with great anticipation. I tend to like Asian-American authors and fine the retelling of their struggles bridging their family and cultural life with their American experience enlightening and entertaining. And, truth be told, this story probably had a lot to offer on that score.

However, in the end I found the book extremely disappointing, primarily because the main character is such a spineless wimp. I spent the entire book wanting to yell "Grow up you jerk!" It's been a long time since I have experienced so useless and loathsome a character. Had he been even halfway decent I probably could have gotten into the story. As it was I was so filled with pity for all these poor characters stuck forever in the same pages as this greedy, immature twerp that I lost track of the story entirely.

What's really frustrating is David Wong Louie can write. And the most impressive aspect of his writing is the depth and intensity of his characters. It's too bad he wasted so much effort on such a fine cast only to undermine it all in the end with such a lousy main character.

I can only hope his next effort is better constructed so that the story is allowed to emerge and be enjoyed.

Rating:
Summary: Father and son relationships are tricky and fragile
Review: In this novel, Louie explores the tendency of fathers and sons to be at odds with each other. Add the element of cultural identity to the mixture and you have a very heartfelt view of family life, and what makes our own identity. While reading this book I thought long and hard about my own relationships, and what it was that I have been trying to accomplish. Very good.

Rating:
Summary: A winning read
Review: Sterling Lung grew up in the back of his parents' Chinese laundry. His parents expected Sterling to attend medical school so he could become a doctor. When he rejected their choice to attend a culinary school, Sterling's parents felt he dishonored them.

Now twenty-six, Sterling's goal in life is to become the All-American male. However, he will soon find his roots, love interest, and employer pulling at him from different directions. His parents have chosen his Chinese bride, but Sterling wants to make his own selection. He feels very strongly that he is not ready to marry. His girlfriend wants Sterling to commit to a more meaningful relationship, but he is not ready to do so since she is in Iowa studying dentistry. His employer wants him to cook genuine Chinese cuisine, but Sterling studied French cuisine. He will have to "Americanize" the genuine taste. If he honors the wishes of others, Sterling dishonors his own desires.

THE BARBARIANS ARE COMING is an incredible tale that provides the audience insight into the discord confronting Chinese-Americans. Sterling is a wonderful protagonist, but it is the support cast that brings him to life. His parents' paradoxical philosophy towards their son is extremely interesting, as they want him to make it in America while remaining Chinese. This cacophony will remind readers of their descendants' struggle between the "old country" and the Americanization of the children. David Wong Louie shows a clever talent that uses wit to describe the inner desires and conflict of his characters.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Welcome to the Future of Asian American Literature
Review: The Barbarians are Coming is a shining example of Asian American literature taken to the next level of sophistication, primarily because it forgoes the cliched, played-out gimmicks of "ethnic genre writing" and instead focuses on characters and situations that are universal to the human experience. Thankfully, the author does not pander to self-exoticism, which unfortunately has become a disturbing trend among many of today's foremost Asian American writers. In the hands of a less capable writer, Sterling's story might have descended into the muck of italicised, explanatory nonsense about mystical ancestors and kitchen gods, but Louie is far too accomplished for that. The Lung family members, though Chinese American, face hardships and conflicts that all people can relate to. This book will make you laugh and cry all in one sitting, as the characters are supremely endearing for their very human faults and desires. Each one of them will undoubtedly remind you of someone you know; perhaps even yourself, at times. David Wong Louie is the present and future of not just Asian American writing, but of American literature in general. Do not miss this book.

Rating:
Summary: An Engaging But Frustrating Read
Review: The Barbarians Are Coming is an interesting story, but altogether frustrating due to the main character's inability to act upon, or even recognize, his emotional response to any given relationship. His relationship to his father,his wife, and to a lesser extent, his mother, is frought with tension due both to cultural disparities and emotional immaturity. He rejects his Chinese heritage, but feels lost in his American birthright. His passivity is at once frustrating and an elemental part of the story. In the end, though, you just want to grab him by the shirt collar and shake him into awareness of all of the damage he has done by not doing anything decisively in his life.